Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Tokyo next week

SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- The top nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold trilateral talks in Tokyo next week over North Korea's denuclearization and other issues, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Gunn, will meet trilaterally with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, in the Japanese capital on Wednesday. He will also meet bilaterally with Kim and Funakoshi.

The gatherings have been arranged amid concerns that Pyongyang could engage in provocative acts, like a nuclear test, as Seoul and Washington concluded a major allied exercise that the reclusive regime decried as a war rehearsal.

"During the planned consultations, the three plan to exchange their assessments of recent situations on the Korean Peninsula and have in-depth talks over the issue of North Korea's denuclearization," the ministry said in a press release.

The three last held a trilateral session on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in July.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
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